McCann’s McLaren on horror of Japan quake
Australian Michael McLaren, the Tokyo-based Asia-Pacific president and CEO of McCann Worldgroup, is faced with the task of keeping the agency’s 600 staff safe and the network’s largest business in the region running.
With another quake expected within the next 72 hours, and the city of 13 million paralysed by suspended trains, McLaren told Mumbrella last night that while most of the company had been evacuated, some staff continue to work in the building.
“Where possible, people are working from home. But some things are being managed from the office. We need to give clients advice on how to manage media placements, real-time advertising campaigns, shoots and so on,” he explained.
Most brand campaigns, deemed inappropriate at this time, have been taken off-air and substituted with public information spots.
With the agency is running at 75% of its potential, things have not been made easy by electricity rationing. Many employees are working in near darkness.
Describing the scene on Friday, McClaren said that when the first shockwave hit, people, shelving and vending machines were toppled as the building “rocked like a boat.”
“The first shock was massive. But everyone knew what to do – which is to get under a desk, away from anything that can fall on you,” said McLaren, who himself was floored by the first shockwave.
“I was very impressed with the composure of our staff. Everyone was calm and collected. Had this been in Sydney or Melbourne, we wouldn’t have been so well prepared.”
McLaren did a round of the building floor to check on staff. “No one was hurt and amazingly none of the buildings in our area showed major structural damage,” he said.
“Then the second shockwave hit, and we were back under our desks. When things settled after a while, we evacuated.”
The cellular phone grid was jammed, but wi-fi systems remained operational. So staff used social networks to try to connect with loved ones, some of whom were located in the north, in Sendai, where a tsunami had struck.
Trains, on which 13 million commuters depend every day, had been suspended. So many people had to walk home.
“It was a surreal scene. Thousands of people were walking across the city, making journeys of up to five hours to get home,” said McLaren.
For some, the journey was too far – 40 McCann staff slept the night at the agency.
With tremors still being felt, and another earthquake measuring 7.5 on the richter scale expected in the coming days, McLaren must decide if and how the agency can keep running.
“Obviously, the real anguish is being felt in the north. But down here all we can do is focus on keeping the business running,” he said.
“The government is saying that there is another big quake coming. This is not over yet. The fear of the unknown is exhausting.”
McLaren moved to McCann to lead the Asia Pacific region for McCann 16 months ago, taking over from fellow Australian Kevin Ramsey, after a stint running McCann Erickson’s US operation.
McLaren is a part of a sizeable community of Australian advertising and media folk in Japan, which includes his colleague Dave McCaughan, McCann’s Asia Pacific strategy director.
